leaking elements help please

[cobb]

ive drilled two 40 mm holes in a stainless steel keg to take two tesco's value kettle elements which will then become my new boiler. the problems is that they leak.

ive not had this problem before with my plastic boiler. im guessing the reason being that the plastic has a certain amount of flexibility in it so it seals well, however the stainless steel is much harder and there for does not bend at all and doesn't squash the rubber seal at the top.

does any one have a solution to my problem? any help would be great.

thanks

 

[Muddydisco]

I think the tesco elements are designed for the thickness of the palstics say 2-3 mm and your stainless is a lot thinner?
Hence your not tightening the seals becauce the backs of the elements bottom out on something?
You might be able to shave off whatever is stopping it tightening but this may also interfer with the safety cut out.
Unless anybody else know's I'll strip out one of mine tommorrow evening and give some more detail.

 

[cobb]

thanks.

good point. i was thinking that maybe thickening the seal with another rubber washer might solve the leak. what do you think?

 

[Aleman]

Buy a pack of 1 1/2" Waste pipe O rings from BnQ, and pop one of these inside the ring of the original sealing washer . . . It should then do up tight enough to seal.

 

[prolix]

I used plastic washers but they split after a while causing mayhem now have home made silicone washers, drew circles on a sheet of baking silicone (base of a round dish) and then went round with a scalpul have them on 6 elements it total. (5 and 10 gallon breweries)

put the silicone washer in place on the inside of the boiler hole smooth side to the wall and then the rubber washer that comes with the element so that it traps the stainless wall and the silicone washer, then attach the element. Will seal tight and not split like the plastic washers.

Also on the screw side add a few small steel washers to the screws to get a tighter fit, I found the screw fully tightened before the hole sealed, I believe I have 2 on each screw and a home made silicone washer.

after the first 2 I used a 38mm drill bit for tesco elements less movement 40 mm is too wide, a bit late for you now but it might help someone else.

Hope that helps

 

[EccentricDyslexic]

I think these elements are very similar to argos ones, what i did was put the whole silicon washer on the inside of the stainless, rather that have the stainless in the middle slot of the seal...does that make sense? works for me!

steve

 

[cobb]

great thanks very much everyone.

i shall try those ideas out and hopefully it will sort it out.

i also agree that 40 mm is a little bit too big but like you say its a bit late for me but now it should all be fine once i get some large washers/o-rings.

cheers

 

[matth]

Buy a pack of 1 1/2" Waste pipe O rings from BnQ, and pop one of these inside the ring of the original sealing washer . . . It should then do up tight enough to seal.

I used plastic washers but they split after a while causing mayhem now have home made silicone washers,

I have just made a small boiler with only one element (its only a 15 ltr bucket - for 10 ltr brew lengths) but the element (tesco value kettle) seems a little loose - i have not tested it yet but think i would prefer to tighten it up with something - what Aleman suggests seems the easiest, but will these cope with the heat?, not sure where to get silicone sheet from - is it more expensive?

Any/all help much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[hairybiker]

I got my "silicon sheet" from poundland. They have some silicon cake "moulds". I just removed the side and cut a couple of washers from the inside using scissors and a scalpel. Used them on my boiler and my MT with no problem for several months/brews now.

 

[matth]

great, thanks - i'll give that a try then. one other thing - i am yet to attach the tank connector for the tap, but it came with a rubber washer that i have used in my mash tun, but will this fail or impart weird flavours in a boiler??

Cheers

 

[hairybiker]

Again I used silicon on the inside the rubber on in the outside, no problems on my plastic boiler.

 

[matth]

Great, cheers - i'll do that then.